Nishikori claims another 500, Kohlschreiber Wraps up Clay Season with Kitzbuhel Title

Nishikori claims another 500, Kohlschreiber Wraps up Clay Season with Kitzbuhel Title
Steen Kirby, Tennis Atlantic

Kei Triumphs in Washington

ATP Washington

The Citi Open wrapped up Sunday for 2015 with an exciting three set final between Kei Nishikori and John Isner. The Japanese #1 won a tight one 4-6 6-4 6-4. As expected, Isner was strong on serve, but quite poor on return, and Nishikori upped his game after surrendering a first set break. Kei’s serving had the edge through sets 2 and 3, and after a break early in the third, Isner had no opportunities to get back in the match.

Nishikori has now won 10 ATP titles, 3 of them coming in 2015, including a pair of 500s, the other coming in Barcelona. Nishikori has been won the best players on tour at the 500 level, winning Barcelona, Tokyo, Memphis when it was a 500, and now Washington.

Isner had another fantastic week in North America, and padded his record in both the US Open Series and in Washington. His serve and game appears back on track and he’s dominating all but the toughest opponents. Big John is continuing to assert himself as the American #1, and he clearly doesn’t want anyone to take his crown away.

Bob and Mike Bryan won the doubles over Ivan Dodig/Marcelo Melo, their second title in as many weeks, as they won Atlanta previously and have been on fire during this US Open Series in Men’s doubles.

ATP Kitzbuhel

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The 2015 ATP clay court season came to an end with Philipp Kohlschreiber claiming the sixth title of his career, his fourth on clay, with a 2-6 6-2 6-2 victory in the final over fellow veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu, a qualifier who caught fire, but couldn’t maintain his momentum from the first set.

Kohlschreiber got better as the week in Austria progressed, following up a three set win in round 1 over J.L. Struff with solid wins over Santiago Giraldo and Fabio Fognini without dropping a set.In the semis Kohli beat a red-hot, but clearly fatigued Dominic Thiem, who finished the clay court season with a great record and made his home fans proud.

Mathieu beat Kenny De Schepper and Martin Klizan without dropping a set then beat Federico Delbonis after a second set bagel and fellow veteran Nicolas Almagro in the semis. The 33 year old moves up to 78 in the rankings with his best performance at the ATP level in quite some time, as it appears he may still have some great performances left in him.